vodkafan

Hi Frankie hope you are feeling better. Going back a few posts I found your rebuttal of the GG essay book very entertaining. On another subject I can't believe you still don't have a kindle.

Hi Julie some interesting books you have going on.

Sounds interesting Brian. I have just spent 6 whole weeks procrastinating. I achieved practically nothing except going to work and coming home again. I just allowed myself to get into a state of mental stagnation.

Battle Royale 5/6 Koushom Takami It's been over a month since I read this book so I cannot remember any of the Japanese names sorry! Any review of this book cannot help but invite comparison with Hunger Games . Suzanne Collins could have hardly not been aware of this books existence, and the main element is identical. Tyrannical government using a death match between children as a device to maintain control of the population. There are elements in both books of survival (of more than one protagonist) being a blow against the government itself; to beat the system. Also many opposing themes of selfishness versus sacrifice; meanings of love and friendship; explorations of trust and alliances; individualism and peer group loyalty . Having read all the HG trilogy as well, I have to say for me that Battle Royale is the superior of the two. It seemed far more edgy to me, there were no mentors or training programs or hair stylists , the kids are just thrown into the nightmare as they are. A strength of the book for me is that the motivations and actions of each child are examined rather than the viewpoint of one person. Some of the characters in HG (ie Rue) just seem like they are placed there as disposable to rinse some emotion out of the reader and serve the plot. In BR everyone has strengths and weaknesses but you really do not know who is going to die and who will live. There is much more fear. Obviously almost everyone dies in the book but nobody feels disposable. In BR There is much more of the element of banding together in groups to fight against the government. I could go on. If you enjoyed Hunger Games, reading this will not ruin your enjoyment of that trilogy but it is a different take on the same premise.

It's a cracker

Breakfast at Tiffanys 5/6 Truman Capote This was a quick and easy read, because of the reputation of the novel I was surprised to find it very short, not much more than a short story really. However, little and good , as they say. I found this SO much more interesting than the insipid and mangled film version. Holly Golightly was not a nice character, people will either like her or hate her I guess.

Hi Claire I knew you would be pleased! I keep re-reading the bit where

Mansfield Park 5/6 Jane Austen Although Pride and Prejudice (being the first Austen I read) will always be a favourite I have to say that this is the most absorbing and interesting Austen book of the 5 I have read. The heroine Fanny Price is not a usual Austen gal as she is not born to money but is a poor cousin who is adopted as a philanthropic gesture. Thus she is separated from her family and grows up with her four rich cousins, her stern uncle Sir Thomas and her two aunts, one rather indifferent and the other nasty. She is not treated as her cousins' equal but something only a little better than a servant. This perspective gives rise to lots of Fanny's feelings and situations, and her observations of people around her which are fully and masterfully explored by Austen in a way she could not do with heroines in her other books. I found particularly good Fanny's reactions when she is returned to her real family as an adult. She has been changed by her upbringing and no longer fits well here either. I thought "Yes! That is exactly how it would be!" Austens drawing of character is superb in this book. Without ever once complaining about her treatment, Fanny's essential goodness gradually has an effect on the whole family and others. Always Fanny keeps her own inner counsel. It is as if by being passive while others are active they show their true characters both good and bad over time. The pace of the book is slow and steady but never dull. The second half of the book sees more standard Austen plot devices, lots of letters and events reported third hand. The ending seemed a tiny bit rushed to me as if Austen wanted to get it over quickly and give a happy ending . That's the only reason I knocked it down to a 5 out of 6. But a great wonderful book.

Girl Meets Boy 6/6 Ali Smith This is a very simple book with a straight forward linear storyline, (no plot as such) and only 5 principal characters. I read it the first time in 2 hours. Yet it is almost magical. I have to give it 6 stars because of the feelgood factor. It is about love and about water.

Welcome June.

Well I have been Absent Without Leave . I have missed you all and now I am back. Will try to get updated and write some reviews ASAP

Yes I have to agree with you really Julie, as an experiment it has not worked. I usually read two at a time and that's fine. With 7.....I still know where I am with each book but I don't seem to make any progress overall. Might manage to finish 3 by the end of the month...pathetic.

Hi Izabela welcome ! It's one of those books I can't quite get out of my mind since reading it. Not so much the story but the horror of the famine itself. One of those bits of history we were never taught and everybody would just like to gloss over.

Can't say I am really but the book came into my hands so I thought I would read what he has to say and make up my mind.

Ok then books I am reading now in no particular order: Mansfield Park (kindle) The Victorian House (non fiction) Workhouse I Am Only Being Honest Jeremy Kyle Raj (history, colonial India) Bonk Daily Life In Victorian London (kindle) Life as a Victorian Lady (kindle)

Thanks MisterBus I am quite interested in this subject too.

Wow my reading has gone crazy. I have started 6 or 7 books , I forget how many actually. What happened I started a couple at the beginning of the month in my normal way then I got gripped by a Victorian mania and started several non-fiction books both on kindle and paperback. Trying to wade through them all bit by bit.

Ah thanks Sue . Well I missed almost the whole series. I really need a fix of Victoriana I am thinking of buying the Dvds of the original Upstairs Downstairs. Even though I believe that does start in 1912. The only Victorian Dvds I have are A Christmas Carol (Patrick Stewart version) David Copperfield , Fingersmith and Tipping The Velvet and I know all of them inside out.

Oh no! I am with you there Sofia. I think Nicole Kidman will make the character too neurotic and panicky she will be hard to watch.

Went to the cinema to watch Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. Complete utter rubbish.

We might need a bit more to go on Pih3....

Thanks Divya!

I have managed to read 9 books in february. Just finished Girl Meets Boy, which was an easy read. I have got so far behind in my reviews, I have 10 to do. Reading Mansfield Park at the moment .

According to Amazon he has written 2 more fiction books with similar titles, Cash and Fortune. Not my sort of genre really but maybe Harold Robbins or Jackie Collins?

Welcome JK! Everybody here knows what sf/fantasy author I am going to recommend so I might as well get it out of the way....Jack Vance! I recommend his Lyonesse trilogy if you are more into fantasy. Lots of magic and romance. Hope you enjoy it here.